2018-19

BIOLOGY INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT

ENZYMES

TEJAL A. NARVEKAR
XII-F
3/10/2018
INTRODUCTION work on the substrates,
and turn them into
Enzymes are protein
products.
molecules in cells which
work as catalysts. Enzymes have a defined
Enzymes speed up amino acid sequence,
chemical reactions in and are typically 100-
the body by lowering 500 amino acids long.
activation energy, but They have a defined
do not get used up in three-dimensional
the process. structure.

Almost all biochemical They are stereospecific,

reactions in living things meaning the reaction
need enzymes. produces a single
product.
The substances at the
start of the reaction are The first enzyme was
called substrates. The found in 1833, by
substances at the end Anselme Payen.
of the reaction are the
products. Enzymes
STRUCTURE OF AN amino acids present in
proteins.
ENZYME
PRIMARY STRUCTURE
Enzymes are made up
of amino acids which
are linked together via
amide (peptide) bonds
in linear chain. This is
the primary structure.
SECONDARY
The resulting amino
acid chain is called STRUCTURE
polypeptide or protein. The hydrogen in the
The specific order of amino group (NH2) and
amino acids in the the oxygen in the
protein is encoded by carboxyl group
the DNA sequence of (COOH) of each
the corresponding amino acid can bond,
gene. There are 21 this means that the
amino acids in the
same chain can
interact with each
other. As a result, it
can fold up in two
ways, resulting in two
secondary structures:
it can wrap round
forming α-helix, or β-sheet
fold on top of itself
TERTIARY STRUCTURE
forming the β-sheet.
The secondary
structure then folds-up
to gain 3-dimensional
form called tertiary
structure.

α-helix
CLASSIFICATION 3) Hydrolases: adds –
OH(hydroxyl) group.
OF ENZYMES
1) Oxido-reductases:
catalyse transfer of
electrons.

4) Lyases: split chemical

bonds, and often add
double bond or ring
structure.
2) Transferases: move
functional group from
one molecule to
another.
5) Isomerases: A -˃ B
where B is an isomer of
A.

6) Ligases: join two

large molecules: Ab + C
-˃ A-C + b